Work Text:
When Kara came to earth, she didn’t speak a single word of English. It wasn’t a known language on Krypton, they’d known relatively nothing about the planet besides the fact that Kara and Kal could survive there before they’d been sent off in their pods. When Kara had finally arrived, years too late, the overwhelming notion that she couldn’t speak to anyone terrified her. Even Kal, or Clark, as he was apparently known on earth, knew little Kryptonian, only enough to communicate to her that he was leaving her with the Danvers, a family who apparently would take care of her, the way she was supposed to take care of Kal, before everything got so screwed up.
Luckily, Jeremiah had been to the fortress, and spoke minimal Kryptonian, enough to engage in the basic necessities of life, but nothing past that. Kara’s first few months on earth were hell, she couldn’t speak to anyone, couldn’t communicate her feelings beyond the basic need for food, water, and a place to go to the bathroom. The Danvers had given her a pen and a notebook, which helped, it was nice to be able to string sentences together again, and eventually, through exposure and simple association games, Kara began to learn English.
It was hard, nearly impossible, when the two languages and alphabets couldn’t be more different, but thankfully Kara had learned other languages before, presenting her with a slight advantage. As hard as it was, she began to be able to communicate. She began to understand what Alex meant when she said “Kara you’re taking forever in the bathroom, please fucking hurry up!”
Kara learned the purpose of “fucking” pretty fast, it was a word Alex used quite frequently to denote emphasis. She learned the taboo connotation of it far too late.
When Kara finally had a grasp on English, she started going to school with Alex, and while it was incredibly hard for her to understand what the teachers were saying when they spoke quickly, she obviously excelled in all her science and math classes. Freshman year math was something she learned at like age three. The teachers practically called her a genius.
Her problem arose in English and History. She struggled with the note taking, unable to follow the teacher speaking in what had been a foreign language less than two years earlier. Her notes took form in the Kryptonian alphabet, a quirk that students and teachers noticed often, and critiqued. “Kara writes in some sort of cipher that is unintelligible to others, this is not a productive skill, and she should no longer waste her time on it,” was written in one of Kara’s report cards, words that had hurt her, even though she knew the teacher had no idea the significance of Kara’s “cipher”.
The symbols that seemed strange to others were home to Kara. A dead language preserved only in her mind, and she wasn’t going to forget it over comments from teachers and teasing from her classmates.
Besides, her English handwriting was complete chicken scratch, due to the fact that she was new to such a strange alphabet. It made much more sense for her to transcribe her notes in a language that made sense to her and was actually legible. Eliza didn’t care much that her notes were in Kryptonian either, she understood her adopted daughter and ignored the teacher’s comments. Kara can’t say she wasn’t extremely grateful.
When Kara finally came out as Supergirl, Winn took an interest in her language, and it was the most exciting thing that had happened to her in years. Someone else wanted to know the language she had been raised with, someone else wanted to be able to communicate with her in her native language. Kara wouldn’t carry the burden of being the only one who could speak Kryptonian anymore.
Unfortunately, Winn struggled. He was able to read it flawlessly, but his pronunciation, and his ability to put characters together in writing was severely lacking. To Kara, this was better than nothing. Especially when he built her a custom keyboard for her phone that included Kryptonian characters. That was the best birthday gift she’d ever received.
It led to a correspondence between Winn and Kara that was just her typing in Kryptonian, and him responding back in English. It was the most connected to her language she’d felt in a long time, and it made her heart sing to be able to send texts like “tagampilu rrup pahtstiykrs?” and get the response “zhi!”
“Yes” and “No” and his own name were about all Winn could write in Kryptonian, but it was enough, it made her that much happier, that much more able to feel at home on earth.
When Mon-El lands on Earth, it seems like a godsend. The Daxamite language is one that’s almost exactly the same as Kryptonian, having descended directly from it. She doesn’t like Mon-El, no he seems gross and sexist, but the ability to speak in that voice again negates everything. It makes her so excited she can barely stop herself from barrelling headfirst into a relationship that probably isn’t good for her.
It’s silly, to ignore all the warning signs because someone gets your experiences, it’s so so crazy to ignore every single ringing alarm just because you want to experience the way your mouth feels when you speak those words and know someone understands it, but Kara can’t help it. Mon-El isn’t perfect, but he’s a piece of home, or something as close to home as she was going to get and she was going to take it.
Later, she regrets it. When Mon-El lies, when he leaves, when he comes back married to another woman. She regrets letting her love for her home and her culture and her language get tangled up with a man who, no matter how good he got, would never truly be hers. Mon-El had hurt her countless times, he had little regard for her feelings, and she’d let him do it, just because she’d been desperate for a connection.
It had worked for a time, but Kara fears it was never worth it. She knows in her heart it wasn’t, but it had felt good. When it was good it was good, and she couldn’t deny herself that.
She hopes someday she finds something like that again, but she’s not confident. It just doesn’t seem likely.
It’s a Friday night, and Kara sits on the couch with Lena’s head resting on her shoulder, her whole body pressed as tightly as they could manage. It’s not really platonic, no, it hasn’t been in so long, if Kara’s being honest, but neither of them have said the words yet. Kara isn’t sure why, she’s sure they both feel the same, but she knows both she and Lena are a bit scared of disturbing the status quo. Nevertheless, sometimes Kara feels the need to say three words, ones that would change everything, but just threaten to spill right off her tongue. So today, she just says them.
Of course not in English, never in English. But saying them in her language, the one only she knows, it feels that much more personal, like she’s sharing a part of herself with Lena, even if Lena has no idea what it means. “:Zhao khap rrip,” she says softly.
She doesn’t miss the way Lena stiffens. It’s an odd reaction, given the fact that Lena should have simply no idea what that means. But Lena does react that way, and she quickly raises her head to look at Kara, her eyes wide and confused. “Did you just say…” she says, trailing off, like she doesn’t know quite what she heard.
“It’s nothing,” Kara is quick to dismiss, “just an old Kryptonian idiom meaning… uh, it’s really nice to be here right now.”
Lena shakes her head, an eyebrow raising. “This was supposed to be a surprise, but,” she says, pausing as she takes Kara’s hands into her own, “:Zhao khap rrip vahdhah.”
Immediately, shock courses through Kara’s veins. Lena had just spoken to her in Kryptonian. Lena had just said she loves her too (well, also, Kryptonian didn’t have a word like too but that was beside the point) in Kara’s native language. A language she hasn’t heard spoken in far too long. And god, Lena does a good job, somehow effortlessly nailing the pronunciation like she was from Krypton herself.
Kara couldn’t help but let the tears fall down her cheeks as soon as they started welling in her eyes. She’s never been quite this touched in her life. Lena had learned her language, or at least this phrase, just for her. Kara was the only one left in the universe who could learn this language, and Lena had picked it up for her . “Kara?” Lena says, her voice filled with worry, “I’m sorry if I overstepp—“
Kara doesn’t let her finish her sentence. She just closes the gap between them, pressing her lips softly to Lena’s. Lena responds almost immediately, tangling her hands in Kara’s hair, pulling them that much closer together. It’s without a doubt the best first kiss Kara’s ever had, probably the best kiss ever if she’s being honest.
But it doesn’t last long, because Kara has about a million and one questions, and no matter how wonderfully soft Lena’s lips felt, she just can’t quiet her mind. She pulls away, one hand still brushing Lena’s hips, Lena’s hand still in her hair, “ When? How? Why? ” she asks, and she knows her words aren’t super coherent, but if anyone will understand, it’s Lena.
Lena laughs, her hand stroking through Kara’s hair, “I reached fluency about a month and a half ago, I was just trying to find the right moment to share it with you,” Lena says, a blush colouring her cheeks like she was embarrassed, “how, well, I hope you don’t mind, but I visited the fortress, and looked in some of the files, I figured it’d be there, and it was.”
“I trust you Lena, you’re allowed to be there whenever you want,” Kara quickly reassures, knowing how Lena needs to hear the words sometimes after everything.
“And as for why, I wanted to tell you I love you. I wanted you to know how special you are to me, and how far I’m willing to go for you. And I figured, you’d love to hear a love declaration in your native language, and I wanted to share it with you, so I learned. I really hope that’s okay.”
“Lena, Rao, it’s more than okay,” Kara says, reaching up to cup Lena’s face in her hands, “it’s the best thing anyone’s ever done for me. I’ve never been so touched in my entire life. You are wonderful, incredible, the best person in my life.”
Lena smiles, and it's somewhat watery, like she can't hold back tears either. “:Zhao khap rrip,” she says.
Kara can barely return the words before she’s kissing Lena again. She just can’t help herself. She loves this girl so much, and even though hearing her speak Kryptonian is pretty much the best sound Kara’s ever heard, kissing her feels that much better.
Three years later, Lena gets down on one knee, and says, “Tauvrreosh khap?”
The box she’s holding in her hands has both a traditional Kryptonian marriage bracelet, and a classic human engagement ring. It’s the best moment of Kara’s life, without a doubt. She never thought she’d get to hear her language ever again, but now, the love of her life is using it to ask for her forever. There’s nothing that could top this moment. Absolutely nothing.
“Zhi!” Kara says, dropping to her knees, “absolutely yes.”
She may have said that nothing would top that moment, but the kiss that follows those words is awfully close.